An Interesting Story

MY WAR AND PEACE
by Alec Goldsmith
Reviewed by Paul Harrison

National Pacific Press 2003. Soft cover 220 pages

The story of a Polish born military aviator who saw service with the Royal Air Force in WWII, and has lived in New Zealand for the past 30 years. Alec Goldsmith’s story is an interesting one, with study in France before the war, and then an epic escape from Poland on the eve of the invasion in September 1939. Alec joined a Polish Army unit in France and after the capitulation in June 1940 ended up in southern France. When he finally reached England, Alec joined the RAF. Following a bad crash in a Mosquito, Alec became an air traffic controller, and saw service in Europe with the Tactical Air Force. It was during his RAF service that Alec came into contact with Kiwis and became so interested in New Zealand that eventually came to reside here in the 1970s.

An easy to read book, which for this reviewer gave an insight into the chaos that, surrounded the period of the “Phony War” and the determination of many to escape the clutches of the Germans after the collapse of France.